BET: There is a next act for MISA

Lisa Chamoff

Updated 10:57 pm, Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The finance board has kept the curtains open on the controversial Greenwich High School auditorium project, approving an additional $10 million during a special meeting Wednesday night and giving the Representative Town Meeting the final say.

After the Board of Estimate and Taxation's Republicans, along with First Selectman Peter Tesei, caucused for more than an hour, the full board split 6-6 along party lines, with Republicans voting against approving more money for the $37 million project.

Republican BET Chairman Michael Mason cast the tiebreaking vote for the project, saying the Board of Education will have to make good on the promise to keep the project in mind when crafting future budgets.

"There's got to be more teamwork going forward," Mason said. "I'll break the tie so the RTM can get involved with these discussions."

Mason asked for a willingness not to commit more than $9 million in capital expenditures in the next five years and to acknowledge the GHS music instruction space and auditorium project, known as MISA, may affect future funding requests.

After the vote, Board of Education Chairman Leslie Moriarty bristled at the comments that the school board hasn't been communicating with the BET on the budget, and said in fact it has been cooperating.

"The Board of Ed's given them no evidence that won't continue in the future," Moriarty said. "If there is an increased need for additional communication, we will work with them."

The BET also increased the contingency funds for the project from 8 percent to 10 percent, tacking on an extra $1.2 million to the $8.6 million appropriation.

Before the break, Mason indicated that he wasn't going to move the project forward to the RTM, saying the school district faces a number of financial responsibilities, and said the Board of Education should "revise their priorities.

"Don't make a commitment that you'll pull $1 million out of your capital model if you don't mean it," Mason said.

"I see a lot of down faces," Mason said, after gasps from the crowd of MISA supporters assembled in the Town Hall Meeting Room. "This is not doomsday. The Board of Ed needs to really revisit this."

Earlier in the meeting, with each BET member making their case for or against going forward with the project, Democrats tossed out financing options and bemoaned how the town has kept taxes low at the expense of providing the services Greenwich residents expect.

"I'm not comfortable that we have not paid more attention to the confinement of mill rate to the level of services the town is providing," said Democrat Jeffrey Ramer. "We tax our citizens at a very low level, something that every single one of you knew when you walked into this room."

Democrat Sean Goldrick said other wealthy towns such as Westport and Weston have spent millions on school building projects, and those investments have made the towns more attractive to young families.

"We do signal to parents that we don't value public education and maintaining our facilities," she said.

During the discussion, Moriarty told the BET she took offense at the "assumption that the Board of Ed doesn't plan.

"I'm struggling a little bit with what kind of conversation you expect with us. We have worked together in past."

Over the last several months, the school district made sacrifices to get a 2 percent operating budget decrease, Moriarty said.

"You're asking me to rejigger my capital budget, so I can try to give you my best guess today," she said. "I'm not sure I can answer."

"They want the best of both worlds," Democratic Town Committee Chairman Frank Farricker said of the Republicans on the BET. "They want to tell people they were in favor of it, but that they were fiscally responsible."